On What is Haram?

 

Way

 

Life (from a different angle)

 

Casablanca

 You must remember this

A kiss is just a kiss

A sigh is just a sigh

The fundamental things apply

As time goes by

And when two lovers woo

They still say "I love you"

On that you can rely

No matter what the future brings

As time goes by

Moonlight and love songs

Never out of date

Hearts full of passion

Jealousy and hate

Woman needs man, and man must have his mate

That no one can deny

It's still the same old story

A fight for love and glory

A case of do or die

The world will always welcome lovers

As time goes by

Moonlight and love songs

Never out of date

Hearts full of passion

Jealousy and hate

Woman needs man, and man must have his mate

That no one can deny

It's still the same old story

A fight for love and glory

A case of do or die

The world will always welcome lovers

As time goes by

Beautiful Poetry

 

Processing vs Bypassing

 

Mysterious Edinburgh

My all-time favorite city. Wish I can move there...

 

Parizaad

 When Parizaad ran on TV last year, I was not aware of it. I got a text from an old childhood friend from Scotland to watch it. I asked him: "Why?"

He replied: "Hum sab ki kahani parizaad jesi hai." 

(Reminded a lot of episodes from my previous life in Pakistan)

حسن کے جزیروں میں روپ کے کناروں پر
ریشمی اندھیرے ہیں، سُرمئی اُجالے ہیں
ایک ناز آفریں دل پر قبضہ جمائی بیٹھی ہے
جس کی جھیل آنکھوں میں دو نیل بوں سے پیالے ہیں

نا پوچھ پری زادوں سے یہ ہجر کیسے جھیلا ہے
یہ تن بدن تو چھلنی ہے اور روح پر بھی چھالے ہیں
کیسے جان پاؤ گے؟ عشق میں کیا گزری ہے؟
کتنے زخم کھائے ہیں؟ کتنے درد پالے ہیں؟

سائیاں وے
سائیاں وے
سائیاں وے

خواہشوں کے جنگل میں حسرتوں کے بستر پر
جسم تو گلابی ہیں اور دل سے کالے ہیں
میں دھوپ کا پجاری ہوں
میں لفظ کا بھکاری ہوں
لیکن جہاں میں بستا ہوں، وہاں مندروں پہ تالے ہیں

کیا عشق وہ نبھائیں گے؟
کیا حسن کو سراہیں گے؟
تاریک جن کے چہرے ہیں
مقدّروں پہ جالے ہیں

ہیں دشمنوں سے کیا شکوہ؟ کیا گلہ رقیبوں سے؟
یہ سانپ آستینوں میں ہم نے خود ہی پالے ہیں

نا پوچھ پری زادوں سے یہ ہجر کیسے جھیلہ ہے

یہ تن بدن تو چھلنی ہے اور روح پر بھی چھالے ہیں 
کیسے جان پاؤ گے؟ عشق میں کیا گزری ہے؟

On Dukh, Sukh and Poetry

 

On Bouncing Back

 

Einstein's view on life

I am not an Atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. May I do not reply with a parable? The human mind, no matter how highly trained, cannot grasp the universe. We are in the position of a little child, entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. 

The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations. 

I am fascinated by Spinoza's Pantheism. I admire even more his contributions to modern thought. Spinoza is the greatest of modern philosophers because he is the first philosopher who deals with the soul and the body as one, not as two separate things.

-- *Albert Einstein (1879-1955)*, _as mentioned in Glimpses of the Great by G. S. Viereck (1930), paraphrased in Walter Isaacsson's Einstein: His Life and Universe_

Hard Work

 

The Zeigarnik Effect

 You pull out the key to open your house. You unlock the door and get inside. Then several hours later you're looking for the key and wondering where it is. And you discover that you have left it behind on the door. Has this happened to you?

To understand why it happens, let’s flashback to Bluma Zeigarnik, a Russian psychologist. One evening, Zeigarnik and her friends went out for dinner to a restaurant. They had a lovely meal. Guess what the highlight was? It was the service. More specifically, their waiter. He had an amazing memory. So as everybody placed their orders, he remembered every little detail, without writing anything down. He remembered who ordered what. And how they wanted it. Zeigarnik and her friends were all amazed by the waiter's memory.

After the meal, they were driving back when Zeigarnik discovered that she had left her jacket behind in the restaurant. So she turned around, drove back to the restaurant and sought out that friendly waiter who she knew would be happy to help her locate her jacket. Imagine her horror though when she found the waiter, but the waiter didn't even recognize her. What happened?

It got Zeigarnik thinking. And her research then showed how our brain tends to work. When a task is completed, our brain hits the delete button. And our memory gets wiped clean. Our short term memory struggles with space to retain information. So it keeps only the unfinished tasks alive. And the minute a task is completed it hits the delete button. And that's why waiters at restaurants will remember every little detail of your order. But only until the bill is made. That’s why when we photocopy a document, we pick up the copy and walk away, leaving the original behind. This has come to be known as the Zeigarnik effect. A term that describes how our short-term memory deletes completed tasks. Fascinating, isn't it?

The Zeigarnik effect might explain why at a bank’s ATM, you are now required to pull your card out before collecting the cash. They know Zeigarnik will be at play and once you collect the cash, the task is finished and good chance you will forget to take your card back.

It's something we can all put to good use. In serials, every episode ends tantalisingly. Each episode ends at a point where you will say ‘wow, what happens next’? You want to know, you want to come back. There is no closure at the end of that episode and that's what brings us back all the time. Had there been closure, chances are we’d quickly forget about it. Maybe a powerful idea for all of us. If there is something you want to make sure remains alive, keep it just a bit unfinished. Writing a book? Make sure you end every writing session at a point of suspense or tension. Don’t resolve it. Don’t finish it. That will bring you back next day to writing again.

The Zeigarnik effect might also explain my favourite piece of communication advice. It’s this. Someone said that there are really two golden rules of communication: 1. Never tell everything at once.

That’s it. Ah, the Zeigarnik effect!

The writer is an author, speaker and leadership coach and former MD of Kimberly Clark Lever BEST BRAINS.

The director of the George Washington University School of Medicine argues that the brain of an older person is much more practical than is commonly believed. At this age, the interaction of the right and left hemispheres of the brain becomes harmonious, which expands our creative possibilities. That is why among people over 60 years of age you can find many personalities who have just started their creative activities.

  Of course, the brain is no longer as fast as it was in youth. However, it gains in flexibility. Therefore, with age, we are more likely to make the right decisions and are less exposed to negative emotions. The peak of human intellectual activity occurs around the age of 70, when the brain begins to function at full strength.

  Over time, the amount of myelin in the brain increases, a substance that facilitates the rapid passage of signals between neurons. Due to this, intellectual abilities increase by 300% compared to the average.

 Also interesting is the fact that after 60 years, a person can use 2 hemispheres at the same time. This allows you to solve much more complex problems.

 Professor Monchi Uri, from the University of Montreal, believes that the old man's brain chooses the path that consumes less energy, eliminates the unnecessary and leaves only the right options to solve the problem. A study was conducted involving different age groups. Young people were very confused when passing the tests, while those over 60 years of age made the right decisions.

 Now, let's look at the characteristics of the brain between the ages of 60 and 80. They are really pink.

 *CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BRAIN OF AN ELDERLY PERSON.*

 1. Neurons in the brain do not die, as everyone around you says. The connections between them simply disappear if one does not engage in mental work.

 2. Distraction and forgetfulness arise due to an overabundance of information. Therefore, *it is not necessary for you to concentrate your whole life on unnecessary trifles.*

 3. From the age of 60, a person, when making decisions, does not use one hemisphere at the same time, like young people, but both.

 *4. Conclusion: if a person leads a healthy lifestyle, moves, has viable physical activity and is fully mentally active, intellectual abilities do NOT decrease with age, they simply GROW, reaching a peak at the age of 80-90 years.*

 *So do not be afraid of old age. Strive to develop intellectually. Learn new crafts, make music, learn to play musical instruments, paint pictures! Take an interest in life, meet and communicate with friends, plan for the future, travel as best you can. Do not forget to go to shops, shows. Don't shut up alone, it's destructive to anyone. Live with the thought: all good things are still ahead of me!*

Ustad Zauq

پہنچا کمند ڈال کے اُس بام پر رقیب

‏سچ ہے حرام زادے کی رسی دراز ہے 

‏- ابراہیم ذوق 

Legend of dreamcathcher

After finishing my residency, I practiced family medicine in far-flung rural towns of the USA for a while. For two days a week, I used to do half a day clinic well deep down in Native Indian reservations.

It was a unique experience. I learned much about their beliefs, lifestyle, culture, and 'mehman-nawazi.' (No wonder they lost their land simply to a turkey).

When I was leaving to return to the East Coast, one of the family offered me a Dreamcatcher as a gift.

Shayed isi dreamcatcher ki badolat mere bohat se khwab pure huwe - who aaj bhi mere paas mehfooz hai

(The below descriptions are taken from the internet)

Long ago, when the world was young, an old Lakota spiritual leader was on a high mountain. On the mountain, he had a vision. In his vision, Iktomi — the great trickster and teacher of wisdom — appeared in the form of a spider.

Iktomi spoke to him in a sacred language that only spiritual leaders of the Lakota could understand. As Iktomi spoke, he took the elder's willow hoop — which had feathers, horse hair, beads and offerings on it — and began to spin a web.

He spoke to the elder about the cycles of life and how we begin our lives as infants. We then move on to childhood and in to adulthood. Finally, we go to old age where we must be taken care of as infants, thus, completing the cycle.

“But,” Iktomi said as he continued to spin his web, “in each time of life there are many forces — some good and some bad. If you listen to the good forces, they will steer you in the right direction. But, if you listen to the bad forces, they will hurt you and steer you in the wrong direction.”

He continued, “There are many forces and different directions that can help or interfere with the harmony of nature and also with the Great Spirit and all of his wonderful teachings.”

All while the spider spoke, he continued to weave his web … starting from the outside and working toward the center. When Iktomi finished speaking, he gave the Lakota elder the web and said, “See, the web is a perfect circle, but there is a hole in the center of the circle.”

“Use the web to help yourself and your people … to reach your goals and make use of your people's ideas, dreams and visions. If you believe in the Great Spirit, the web will catch your good ideas, and the bad ones will go through the hole.” (Note: Some bands believe the bad ideas are caught in the web and the good ideas pass through to the individual. Either account is acceptable.)

The Lakota elder passed his vision on to his people. Now, the Sioux use the dreamcatchers as the web of their life. Traditionally, it is hung above their beds or in their homes to sift their dreams and visions. Good dreams are captured in the web of life and carried with them … but the evil dreams escape through the center's hole and are no longer part of them. (Note: Some bands believe the bad ideas are caught in the web and the good ideas pass through to the individual. Either account is acceptable.)

Lakota believe the dreamcatcher holds the destiny of their future.